Lake County Native Wildflowers: Fairy lanterns and friends — a cavalcade of calochortus
- Karen Sullivan, Kim Riley and Terre Logsdon
- Posted On
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — Diminutive in size, but complex in structure and saturated in colors are the calochortus with a variety of common names such as fairy lanterns, star tulips, globe lilies and mariposas, and there are 10 different species to delight the eyes that can be found in Lake County in the forests, grasslands and chaparral areas.
“Calo,” derived from the Greek “kalos,” which means beautiful, and “chortus,” meaning grass, calochortus have a well-deserved reputation for their beauty and diversity.
According to the Pacific Bulb Society, calochortus have a reputation for being difficult to grow in your home garden. While these flowers are bulbs like nonnative daffodils, that reputation is well-deserved as it can take up to six years for seed-grown calochortus bulbs to flower — but if you love them, it can be worth the wait.
However, according to Mary E. Gerritsen and Ron Parsons in their book, “Calochortus: Mariposa Lilies and their Relatives” (2007), “With their graceful stance, brilliant colors, and intricate markings, members of the North American genus calochortus are among the most dazzling bulbous plants in the world. Yet their mostly undeserved reputation for being difficult to grow has kept them from being known and appreciated by the vast majority of gardeners,” and we agree!
Mariposa, which means “butterfly” in Spanish, have petals that resemble the wings of butterflies which dance and wave in the breeze, attracting all manner of insects to pollinate them.
Growing in grasslands and some open forest floors primarily in the central Coast Ranges and Sierra foothills, mariposas can be found with other varieties like fairy lanterns which are also found in our areas of chaparral.
To see and learn more about the species of calochortus in Lake County, visit CalFlora.
Nurseries where you can purchase calochortus:
Yellow mariposa lily: https://calscape.org/nurseries.php?id=668&showmap=1
Blue star tulip: https://calscape.org/nurseries.php?id=659&showmap=1
Large flowered star tulip: https://calscape.org/nurseries.php?id=687&showmap=1
Golden fairy lantern or globe lily: https://calscape.org/nurseries.php?id=649&showmap=1
Terre Logsdon is an environmentalist, certified master composter, and advocate for agroecology solutions to farming. An avid fan and protector of California wildflowers, plants, natural resources, and the environment, she seeks collaborative solutions to mitigate the effects of climate change. Kim Riley is retired, an avid hiker at Highland Springs, and has lived in Lake County since 1985. After 15 years of trail recovery and maintenance on the Highland Springs trails, she is now focused on native plants, including a native plant and pollinator garden on her property as well as promoting and preserving the beauty of the Highland Springs Recreation Area. Karen Sullivan has operated two nurseries to propagate and cultivate native plants and wildflowers, has lived in Kelseyville for the past 30 years, rides horses far and wide to see as many flowers as possible, and offers native plants and wildflowers for sale to the public. You can check her nursery stock here. They are collaborating on a book, Highland Springs Recreation Area: A Field Guide, which will be published in the future. In the meanwhile, please visit https://www.facebook.com/HighlandSpringsNaturalists and https://www.facebook.com/HighlandSpringsRecreationArea.